The World in Red
by ThreeBlindMice
Summary: Red is a Champion among Champions, taking title after title as he travels through the various regions. With his 'Dex in hand, he is determined to catalogue every single Pokémon in existence, but with great power comes great responsibility. Slowly, but surely, the world will turn against him. One-shot.


**A/N: This idea just popped into my mind. Another one-shot, but this one's a bit darker than my first. It surrounds the premise that Red, after defeating Team Rocket and the Elite Four of Kanto moved on to other regions and did the same, beating each of the Leagues and their respective crime syndicates. **

**Enjoy.**

This world was never meant to be held in the hands of one person, let alone someone who had yet to become a fully legal adult. Even now, no one is sure how he did it, only that he did with astonishing ease. With enough ease that people began to get afraid. Frightened for their futures, one might say.

The original collector of all of Kanto's 150 Pokémon, he filled the PokéDex with detailed entries on the behaviors of each and every one of them, including the legendary Pokémon known as Articuno, Zapdos, and Moltres along with the infamous Mewtwo. The fact that he raised them all to maturity to the point where they could be used competitively in battles was astounding. Already, he was praised as a genius. There was only light in his future as the Champion of the joint Kantonese-Johtonese Pokémon League.

For him, however, that wasn't enough.

When his 'Dex was upgraded by the acclaimed Pokémon Professor, Samuel Oak, to a National version, Red began to obsess over finding every single Pokémon in existence and registering them. Others had gotten parts, had gotten 'Dex entries for their region. A complete compendium was available soon after Red's own 'Dex entries were added in. He had marked history as both a stunningly young Champion and a valuable contributor to our knowledge of Pokémon and their behavior in the wild. Even so, he couldn't stand the fact that he had not achieved what he originally had been led to believe; registering the entire population of Pokémon on his customized PokéDex. Others eventually called it his innate arrogance. I simply called it his admirable determination and drive. There was no one like him in the world, and there likely would never be someone like him again. Red was one of a kind.

So he travelled past Kanto and into Johto where he continued to catch anything new. Two legendary Pokémon, Ho-Oh and Lugia, renowned for their rarity, were found by him within a few months. He caught them both with little trouble. All three of the Legendary Dog Trio, known for their tendency to flee upon human contact, were discovered and captured within the year. His reputation as a powerful Trainer and fantastic tracker only grew to massive proportions after this. People flocked to him. He held a certain simple charisma that made him an idol to others. No, he wasn't particularly good looking, and no, he wasn't a great public speaker. Some might even say he was squeamish under public scrutiny and that he disliked the press.

Regardless of that, one upstart Trainer who had collected all eight of the Johto Badges and had proceeded to get all eight of the Kanto Badges after beating the Elite Four, although it was notably incomplete in Red's absence, challenged Red publicly, saying, and I quote, "I can take you on." Red is many things, but first and foremost he's always looking for some sort of challenge, a mountain to climb, if you will. Gold, the boy's name, was someone who had full confidence in his abilities and believed in his Pokémon. In many ways, the two were alike. However, the result of their battle was decisive. They were worlds apart in skill.

Red crushed Gold with only his Pikachu. It was an embarrassing display, but the two still treated it as a legitimate battle. Kind and caring to a fault, Red had never mocked his opponents, and he didn't start today.

After this, he left Johto in the capable hands of Lance and his new Elite Four, telling him that he would return one day and fight each and every challenger that made it past them all. He never did, of course. He was far too busy for that.

Hoenn was next on his list, and it was a near perfect repeat performance of Johto. New Pokémon were caught, beings with power nearing deities were captured, and two promising young Trainers were defeated with ease. Hoenn's Elite Four was a pushover for someone who was now making history as the first person to ever hold the title of Champion in two separate Leagues. With behemoths like Groudon, Kyogre, and Rayquaza on his side, none of them stood a chance. A small group arose, saying that Red needed to be contained, that he was becoming dangerous to the entire world. While their concerns would ring true later on, the international community could find nothing wrong with this extraordinary boy. The petit gang was shut out and rejected by the public who was in love with the force known as Red.

It was at this point that I should've known something was wrong with him. If anyone could've noticed, it would've been me. I had been in Red's place, had known what it felt like to be as strong as him. To believe you were unstoppable. I had been neither as kind nor as forgiving as him, but I knew him better than I knew myself.

And yet, I still couldn't see it. Couldn't see the mounting pressure all of this success was putting on him. The stress, it was breaking him. Whatever façade he had equipped to make it seem like everything was alright was just that, a mask to hide the rampant emotions within him. But he couldn't stop. Certainly not now. Not with the entire world watching as he single-handedly took down every single obstacle in his path and captured Pokémon thought to have vanished thousands of years ago.

There was no turning back for him.

Sinnoh was new territory, and it was rife with crime. The Elite Four's best efforts couldn't contain the perpetrators, Team Galactic, and their leader, Cyrus. In Team Galactic, Red found something he could relate to, something that mirrored the Rockets so closely that at times, it seemed as if they were being run by the same person. Accompanied by three other, very promising, young Trainers, they constantly walled the Galactic's efforts, boxing them in for the killing blow. Cyrus eventually succeeded in creating what we now call his "Red Chain," an object forged of the jewels of the Lake Guardian Trio, which he used at the infamous Spear Pillar atop Mt. Coronet to summon the beings of space and time, Palkia and Dialga. Without breaking a sweat, Red defeated all four of the Galactic Commanders and Cyrus single-handedly and all at once, a Pokémon taking on each. Afterwards, he proceeded to, in the renowned Professor Rowan's words, "calm the Legendary beasts with just his voice. It was astounding-no, it was expected. This was Red, of course, but I had never witnessed such strength. It was as if they bowed to his authority, beings we might call gods, and allowed him to capture them in balls less than one hundredth of their size. Not to mention that when the third appeared to break the Red Chain, he did exactly the same."

The Lake Guardian Trio soon followed suit, so strong was Red's aura that no Pokémon, not even one with such power that it might be called "legendary," could resist him. I'm sure if he had ever asked a Trainer's Pokémon to come with him, they would've… but of course he was far too nice to do such a thing. He was the epitome of ethics; he could have been called morality itself by his deepest admirers.

As with Kanto, Johto, and Hoenn, the upstart Trainers who accompanied him had their teams ground into the dust. The Elite Four suffered a similar fate, although it is notable that Cynthia was the first one in nearly three whole years who had taken out any of his Pokémon. Both Lapras and Pikachu were knocked out of the fight, and it enraged him. His Charizard came out and crushed Cynthia's remaining team, even mortally wounding her Garchomp. He was on television, and no one could understand how someone who in every battle was always smiling and thanking challengers for their time could act so viciously. But, of course, I knew.

It was at this point that people began to become alarmed. He was, after all, only 14 or so at this time. Just a child. Many pointed this out, Professor Birch and Rowan among them. No adult would ever be trusted with, effectively, the head position of government in four separate regions, although Kanto and Johto were united. It had never been done before. The separate Pokémon Leagues were meant to prevent anyone from gaining too much influence, too much power. Up until now, it had succeeded. There was also the fact that no person had ever held in their hands the all the legendary Pokémon from each of these regions.

However, as I've said before, Red was one of a kind.

The entirety of the world publically asked Red to release Ho-Oh, Lugia, Groudon, Kyogre, Rayquaza, Palkia, Dialga, and Giratina. Their explanation was that it was simply too much responsibility for anyone to handle, even a prodigy such as himself. He responded, and I quote, "what if they don't want to leave? They're _mine_, not yours." At this point, near everyone lost their shit, to put it lightly.

The group from before that no one had taken seriously emerged before the public eye, hate mongers who despised Red and his strength. Membership rates skyrocketed nearly 1700% per month, sending this group's size through the roof. They labelled themselves as "the Liberation," and the higher-ups participated in all kinds of deplorably illegal activity on the level of the Rockets. Most members were just scared, and I could understand why. The legendary Pokémon in Red's possession were hardly understood, and held in his hands what many considered the strongest one in existence; Mewtwo. It was natural that they try and limit his unbounding strength, I suppose.

Red didn't see it that way, though. Certainly not. When the League deactivated his Poké Balls in a vain attempt to show him who was boss, all of his Pokémon simply broke through. They could no longer be contained by such a simple system, and Red refused to order them back. By this time, the amount of them was mind-boggling, and there was definitely no space that they could stay, especially some of the largest ones. The League, still believing they held some shred of power, flatly ordered Red to return his captured Pokémon to the deactivated balls and let them be confiscated.

Of course Red refused. No one was going to make him, a Champion among Champions, do something so ridiculous when he had done nothing wrong in his own mind. And so, with the imminent deactivation of his Trainer Card in mind, Red vanished for over a month, resurfacing in Unova, where he did the exact same thing as he had done in every other region. Team Plasma, a group of Pokémon liberation extremists, were put a stop to within a week, their operations shut down. In a final battle between the leader of Team Plasma, the mysterious "N," and Red, the three legendary Dragons of the region emerged, two of which sided with Red, the two being Reshiram and Kyurem. Despite the undeniable strength of Zekrom and "N," he was trounced without a loss on the side of the now legendary himself Trainer.

Alder, the Champion of Unova at the time, approached Red, ordering him to release his Pokémon, as his Trainer Card had been terminated. Upon Red's inevitable refusal, every major Trainer in the region engaged him all at once. They were fortified by the assets of "the Liberation," who up until now had gathered their strength for their day of reckoning. The entire world threw everything they had at him. All of their power, concentrated into a single group of remarkable people that they could only hope would become the immovable object to halt the unstoppable force known as "Red."

At this point, he had barely turned 15.

They failed spectacularly, of course. Every last one of them. I wouldn't be writing about this if they hadn't. It would've been amusing to watch if it had been the least bit funny at the time. All of the planet's hope, dashed in an instant. Red is truly an impossible being, one without peer… or so I think.

Everyone clings to one last hope. The person who is the only one to have ever bested Red in anything. The one that the last remnants of "the Liberation" have taken to calling "our Savior."

The hope that they cling to is me, Blue.

Honestly, I think they're mad. I've only defeated Red once, and it was before he even knew about type matchups. It was a pathetic battle, but Red certainly learned from it. He's crushed me ever since. As the first Trainer in the world to be able to Mega-Evolve a grand total of five of his Pokémon at once, he outclasses me at my measly two, which, according to most, is still a remarkable number. He has outclassed me in every way ever since our time together as rivals in the Kanto region, back when we were both unsure of our ability.

Perhaps if I had more time… no, even then it wouldn't be enough. Nothing is truly enough to stop Red. Nothing ever will be.

I intend to use his failure of the capture of Mew and Arceus against him, mock him into anger… but I'm not sure if even that will help. I have trained for over two years for this moment, groomed by those of "the Liberation" and anyone with a shred of hope that he can be beaten into someone with strength that is whole worlds above a simple Champion. I know for a fact that I can defeat nearly every single ex-Champion with less than half of my team, allowing for four in Cynthia's case, with relative ease, so strong have I become. Yet, it is not enough, no matter how many times I try to tell them.

They say to me that he's been looking for me ever since my disappearance years ago. That he's pushed a ridiculous amount of resources into finding his lost "best friend." They believe it's because he thinks I pose a threat to him, but I know better, of course. I always have.

I'm the last thing linking Red to reality. He's practically a god, but Professor Oak and Delia have both died since his ascent to "dictator of the world." There's nothing left for him in Pallet, really nothing left for him in Kanto. Everything there is just as it is everywhere else, there's nothing personal that remains. Red is alone in this world with none of his past and memories to comfort him. He needs me to be there for him, or he might just implode.

They've granted him that wish. I've defeated Diantha, the ex-Champion of Kalos who had taken Red's place during his search. He comes for me.

I sit here in the Radiant Chamber desperately wishing that it hadn't come to this, that we hadn't molded Red into what he is today. He will be spoken of in history with hate, not with love, as he truly deserves. No one will remember his kindness and caring nature. All they will care about are the innocent people he has constantly put at risk. Forget the crime syndicates that he's eliminated, they will surely say that he utilized unnecessary force against a civilian population. There is nothing Red can do now. His fate as a villain is sealed, no matter the truth. Perhaps that is the irony of history.

This is the last time I will write in this notebook. I can't win this battle, despite the time I have been granted to prepare myself. It would take ten of me, perhaps ten thousand of me, to take on Red with any reasonable chance of winning. It's utterly hopeless.

Gramps is gone, Mom is gone, Aunt Delia is gone, and Red's too far out there for me to recover him. I almost wish that things would just end… almost.

But before it's all over, Red and I need to have a little rematch.

I can only hope I'll take down some of his Pokémon with me.

**A/N: Feel free to leave a favorite or review if you feel like it.**


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